STEVEN HOLL
PARALLAX – WORKING WITH DOUBTS 2009
174
WORKING WITH DOUBT
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." -Nietzsche
Absolute zero temperature, the hypothetical point at which a substance would have no molecular Wor k ing with doubt can yield an intrinsic affirmation of human choice that gives presence to an
motion, is -459.72 degrees Fahrenheit. The "absolute zero" temperature in physics can be said to Idea. Without intrinsicalness, there is no architecture. (Building construction continues regardless
correspond to absolute music-music that has no program and does not try to tell a story or 11f th e lack of architecture.) Architecture is for the bold in spirit; it rises to a pledge of inspired space
describe a scene. We have reached a marvelous moment in architecture in which determinant 11
1t1 of a crowd of shrugging shoulders. A fusion of changing functions finds its flow within the open
developments can occur from any discipline. Architecture, no longer limited to beginning in volu me of an emphatic testimony, so that architecture today can in and of itself shape and inspire
architecture, can be inspired by music, poetry, sculpture, or scientific phenomena-hundreds, 110
w feelings.
thousands of beginnings. If an idea is realized, related to a specific site and circumstance, its
differential combinations should connect to the organic nonlinear and the infinite. Y st erday's efforts to develop a technology for our needs have given way to an avalanche of new
loc hnologies and the challenge of incorporating them. Technology-guided function slips easily inlo
An absolute exists in the specific. Site, geometry, program, circumstance, and materials are forg loc hnocratic architecture. Discoveries in science require a new relation to architecture, not a
into spaces by an idea. A unique site and circumstance requires a specific idea, a "limited 11 newal of monastic rationality or deterministic thinking. A nonconformist openness explores new
concept ." More than just a verbally expressed idea , a limited concept sets a manifold relation. It pote ntials while embracing archaic wisdom. Incongruous methods conduct explorations that are
refers to a nonhegemonic, local stability . It is semihierarchical. A limited concept states an ideal. 1 riti c al of science and yet that utilize ultramodern techniques, creating supercharged doubt.
An ideal asni .ration in architecture is not eclectic. In the mind, an ideal is seen; it is a kind of
perfection. It is closer to "classical" art than eclecticism. However, a limited concept thrives on We s hould aspire to build an architecture free of taking one thing for another . Rising like blood
going forward into the unknown, embracing doubt . lo a s lapped face, architecture is not generic; its passion is set ricocheting through the generic,
, nus ing a positive chain reaction of embracing feeling. Archit~cture challenges the generic and,
A concept can be in some cases mathematically precise. Mathematicians follow four laws in 111an intense realization, forms become specific.
approaching a problem . They express it verbally, numerically , algebraically, and visually. Likewi ,
architecture has a verbal concept, numeric size and proportion, algebraic integration of structur eneralized, repeated, speculative constructions of rent-collecting maximization spring up
and material dynamics (and heat and cooling dynamics), and form . These four aspects forge an 1 ont i nuously across the continent. Indifference to quality of life is the norm. Banality in excess
integrated connection for each site and program . yiel d s a negativity, which has become apocalyptic in today's society. Faultless eyes watch social
t rro rism in the brittle world of suburban high schools. A fashionable (cynical) acceptance of
Mathematical codes dominate an absolute aim in today's Human Genome Project. They dominat 1 om mercial forces is opportunistic and unconvincing. Negative capability is the capacity to take
the description of the double helix of DNA and yet James Watson and Francis Crick admit that a 111
a ll that is problematic, and in the face of uncertainties, create. We need sincere architects with
dream-the ultimate in subjectivity-was central to the discovery of DNA's structure . The negative capability and the imagination to forge a catalyst for change .
subjective-objective transformations in the actions of life are not predetermined in genetic given 11
we move, adopt, and live in new ways. In order to live and act we make errors, corrections, and l~at her than a fixed and systematic background, a dynamic and relative world of change forces
correlations in an active advance; that is, we work with doubt. disp lacements. The hoped-for stable and unified theory in physics has given way to theories based
11nconstantly changing parameters. Physicists speak of the universe as having a number of
The power of working with doubt or suspending disbelief is fundamental for creative thought in tliff erent possible phases comparable to different phases of matter. Allowing different possibilities
science and in architecture . Today the absolute is displaced by the relative and by the interactive . In architecture requires opening up thought, comparable to new scien .ce-working with doubt. To
Instead of stable systems, we work with dynamic systems. Instead of simple and clear program , doubt the validity of our ingrained opinions, ideals and views that we so hotly defend takes courage
we eng age diverse and contingent programs. We work with, instead of precision and exactness, 11n
d endurance. What is our central paradox? A joy in doubt in the deepest sense of being.
intermittent crossbred methods and combinative systems. The dynamic and interactive are
qualities of contemporary architecture that set it apart from the clarity of the classic and the
fo llowing: Ab solute notation/indeterminate notation, fir st by John Cag e , then by Corneliu s Cardew , who se unfettered
functional purity of the modern. Today we long for an absolute architecture after decades of 111
>proa ch emb raced th e ra dic a l openne ss of indeterminacy .
ameliorating historicism. We desire an architecture that is integral rather than empirical, that
ha s depth rather than breadth; we desire an architecture that will inspire the soul.
180
DURATION
(THE NOT YET MEETS THE ALREADY GONE)
"I simply think that water is the image of time, and every New Year's Eve,
A PARABOLIC CURVE
in some pagan fashion, I try to find myself near water ... preferably an WU-TANG FLUTE
EXTENDING INTO INFINITY
ocean ... to watch the emergence of a new helping, a new cupful of time
from it."
-Joseph Brodsky, Watermark
THE ULTIMATE OF
VIOLENCE
IS PARALYSIS
Henri Bergson argued in his book Matter and Memory (1911) that we cannot
speak of time, we can only speak of duration. Duration, a fluid, flowing time, SILENCE
is iiilertwined with an experience of being where past, present, and future
merge. If one extreme of time is the experiential time of individual being, the
other extreme is the abstract, anonymous, measured time of science. As we ACTION
PHOTOGRAPHED IN
strike a balance between these dynamic extremes, we are enmeshed in REVERSE FROM HERE
TO END OF FILM
changing paradigms. Bergson's critique of chronometric theories of time
argued for psychological time as duration-an argument in which time
equals space.
Time/action diagram for Maya Deren 's 1948film Meditation on Violence . Two parabolic arcs
describe three types of Chinese boxing in a single continuous movement. The last portion of the
film is printed in reve rse motion .
The theoretical conflict between absolute and relational views of space-
time brings out very different concepts of identity, individuality, and
property. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz argued for a relational point of view of
time and space; this argument was crystallized by Albert Einstein's theory
of general relativity. Still theoretical physics remains unresolved-our
universe is evolving in time as our views are evolving. Time is only
understood in relation to a process ·or a phenomenon. The duration of human
beings alive in one time and place is a relational notion. The time of one's
being is provisional; it is a circumstance with an adopted aim for the time
being. Space-and architecture-exceeds the provisional.
210
CORRELATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Modern life is characterized by programmatic fluctuation: turbulent shifts
in demographics, changes in the desires of restless populations, and the
alternation of local and regional political wings. The initial program brief
of even a single building is typically shaken up and reorganized during
the planning process. When a portion of the program is taken away, new
programs are invented to occupy the building envelope.
Th~qisquietude of programmatic fluctuation can be taken as an advantage.
Is· programmatic indeterminacy a disaster for any architect who aspires to
a relationship of form to function? Will the profusion of the articulated-skin
approach prevail simply as a solution for internal indeterminacy?
Chi -Chi has a bath against her will.
Correlatlonal P rogramming 212
Correlational charts·
A table of links and ·
beginning with th correlations
of architecture· e four conditions
A . Under the g;ound
B. In the ground
C . On the ground
D. Over the ground
Primary Relations·
1. Near .
2. Over
3. Atop
4. Under
5. Within E
5
i
~.
6
6. Against
7. Between
8. Through
9. Across
10. Scside
11. From
Complex Relations ·
1. Under within a with'
2. Over within · · '" (below)
_At a within (below)
3 A op an under (below)
4. top a from (below)
5. Over a through (" )
6 A . ,n
. U~amst an under (in)
7. der a between ("1 )
8. Across (on) over a tnh nd
9. Atop a vertical throurough (u er)
10. Through a b · gh (on)
11. Across an eside (in)
_At atop beside (on)
12 w·op_ an across (in)
13. 1thm a through (on)
14. Through a from (on)
15. Through atop (on)
16. Within atop (on)
From a w1"th on
17. At " through (on)
18. A op a between (on)
19. bove near from
~
·1th·
20. Within a from w '" (on)
_Over an aga· beside (above)
21
22. Against a onSI (on)
_Across n _over (above)
23_ Under a~gamst a from (above)
24 across (above)
